A second left-turn on Langston Blvd could help ease a major rush-hour traffic choke point in East Falls Church, county staff believe.
Later this month, County Board members will be asked to request $1.5 million from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) for another turning lane from eastbound Langston Blvd onto westbound Washington Blvd adjacent to Interstate 66.
The request is designed to address traffic backups on Langston from traffic trying to access westbound I-66. Those backups, which sometimes extend into the City of Falls Church, have intensified since the end of the pandemic.
“It does seem to be experiencing elevated flows,” Arlington Transportation Commission member Donald Ludlow said at a meeting last week. “With the continued rapid pace of development in Falls Church, especially on the Broad Street spine, that is a really critical space.”
Currently, eastbound Langston Blvd — known as N. Washington Street in Falls Church — has two through lanes in each direction over the I-66 bridge, along with left-turn lanes in each direction to access Washington Blvd east and westbound.
County staff told Transportation Commission members the additional eastbound turn lane from Langston onto Washington Blvd and then I-66 could be squeezed in by eliminating the median area on the bridge. No existing lanes would be removed, although the small size of the median suggests travel lanes might need to be narrowed.
The funding request is slated for consideration at the Sept. 13 County Board meeting, two days ahead of the submission deadline for the VDOT’s revenue-sharing program.
VDOT solicits applications for $200 million in total available funding through the program every two years. Projects approved in the current round are likely to be funded in fiscal year 2029 or 2030.
As part of the Aug. 28 discussion, Transportation Commission member Alexander Mendelsohn asked if anything could be done to address the narrow pedestrian crossing of the bridge.
“That can be pretty uncomfortable to walk in its current condition,” he said.
County staff replied that when VDOT owns a bridge, as it does in this case, pedestrian improvements typically are undertaken only during a complete rehabilitation.
County officials also are expected to seek $5 million in VDOT funds to support construction of a new stretch of trail along Arlington Blvd from S. George Mason Drive to 800 feet east of S. Glebe Road. This would connect with another segment of the trail, extending access eastward to the bridge over N. Jackson Street.
The segments will be part of the broader Arlington Blvd Trail, which runs somewhat haphazardly from Rosslyn west to Seven Corners.
The Capital Trails Coalition notes that gaps along the route currently make it an “unreliable route for pedestrians and bicyclists.”
